NOT TO BE DENIED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 November 1940, Page 4

NOT TO BE DENIED

PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF DAMAGE DONE AT TARANTO RESULTS OF FLEET AIR ARM ATTACK. STATE OF STRICKEN BATTLESHIP SHOWN PLAINLY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, November 25. R.A.F. photographs, released for publication today, add visual testimony to the story, told by an Admiralty communique, of damage inflicted on the Italian Navy during the Fleet Air Arm attack on Taranto on the night of November 11. The photographs, taken in brilliant sunshine from a height of between 6000 and 8000 feet—an unusually low daylight operational height over a defended area—provide unchallengeable evidence, even to the lay eye, of the results of the attack, and, under expert interpretation, reveal hundreds of confirmatory details. One of the most remarkable photographs shows a 35,000-ton battleship of the Littorio class —almost certainly the Vittorio Veneto —badly down by the bows in a merchant anchorage in the middle of the outer harbour. Salvage ships and tugs are seen alongside, with oil on the water. Alongside, on the starboard bow, is a tanker, probably assisting in pumping operations. Another auxiliary craft is on the port bow, and outside this ship is a large submarine, probably providing power, as the battleship, having gone down by the head, would have no power. Another photograph shows a 23,622-ton battleship, of the Cavour class, beached on the cast shore of the outer‘ harbour. She has a heavy list to starboard, and the whole length of the starboard side is submerged. The stem is completely submerged aft of the rear gun turrets, and a large quantity of oil is seen on the water. The complete absence of any activity around her for two days after the attack strongly suggests.that she has been abandoned.